CBS 11
Dallas residents endured an hour and a half of city-wide sirens just before midnight on Friday.

Dallas mom Beth Mortenson described the wailing sound as “like an air raid.”

“I knew there wasn’t severe weather, checked to see if there was severe weather. When there wasn’t I thought, we need to get out of here,” Mortenson told CBS-11.

Mortenson said a 911 dispatcher told her authorities didn’t know what was going on.

Vaz said city technicians initially suspected a malfunction and were forced to disable the emergency alert system to quiet the sirens. The citywide system is likely to be reactivated late Sunday or Monday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide alternative emergency announcements if the need should arise, Vaz said.

Should the alarms go off before the system is reactivated, Vaz asked the public to not call 911.

Outdoor warning siren system has been manually shut down. Looking into the cause for the unintended activation. Our Sincere apologies.

“This is yet another serious example of the need for us to upgrade and better safeguard our city’s technology infrastructure,” the mayor said in a Facebook post. “It’s a costly proposition, which is why every dollar of taxpayer money must be spent with critical needs such as this in mind. Making the necessary improvements is imperative for the safety of our citizens.”